Pontifications: C Series to Airbus, 10 years since program launch, lower fuel burn

Airbus has a 50.01% stake in the LP, with Bombardier and the province of Quebec holding minority stakes.

Things will move quickly, now that Airbus has control.

Airbus is expected to announce a rebranding of the C Series at its July 10 pre-Farnborough Air Show media briefing. An aircraft is in the process of being repainted in Airbus colors for display at the event.

Bloombergreported in April new names were to be assigned to the CS100 and CS300, probably the A210 and A230 respectively.

Construction of the new C Series Final Assembly Line in Mobile (AL) will begin sooner than expected. This was announced at the Inaugural Southeast Aerospace & Defence Conference in Mobile, organized by Leeham Co. and Airfinance Journal.

Advancing the date

Rob Dewar, who last week was VP and GM of the C Series program for Bombardier, announced that construction of the FAL will begin this year. BBD officials originally said it won’t begin until next year.

Dewar, who is this week now Head of Customer Support and Head of Engineering for the airplane program, said the first delivery from the Mobile plant will be in mid-2020.

When asked if that first delivery will be to Delta Air Lines, Dewar said it would be to a US customer.

A start-up, Moxy Airlines, plans to order 60 CS300s with the first delivery in 2020, according to its business plan. No order has been announced, though with the Farnborough Air Show beginning in two weeks, perhaps an MOU or LOI might be forthcoming.

JetBlue and Spirit Airlines in the US are known to be hot prospects. JetBlue won’t be ready by Farnborough, it said, to decide between the Embraer E-Jet E2 or the CS300. This decision is expected by year-end. Spirit’s timetable is unknown.

Operating performance

Dewar also announced that the C Series is burning about 3% less fuel than advertised. Drag, electrical outtake and bleed air each came in about 1% less than forecast, based on operating results from Air Baltic and Swiss.

A software/paperwork change is forthcoming to reflect these differences.

Additionally, Dewar to me on the sidelines of the conference that engine performance improvements of 5% will come over a 3-4 year period. He declined to provide a starting date.

Launching the program

As it happens, the C Series program was launch 10 years ago July 13 at Farnborough by the Lufthansa Group.

Then-president of Bombardier Commercial, Gary Scott, presented the airplane to Lufthansa. The order was followed by one from the USA’s Republic Airways Holdings, which then owned Frontier Airlines. Republic ordered 40+40 CS300s, intended for Frontier, which at the time exclusively operated the Airbus A319 and A320. The CS300 is the same size as the A319.

The Republic order spurred Airbus to launch the A320neo, which in turn prompted Boeing to launch the 737 MAX. The Embraer E2 followed.

“This Farnborough marks the 10th anniversary of that event which changed the single aisle landscape,” one industry observer noted to LNC last week. “Lufthansa then followed with a commitment for the NEO including engine choice driving the GTF timeline. Unfortunately, some issues prevented timely deliveries of all models as Pratt and CFM were both having issues.”

LNC’s Bjorn Fehrm will be at the July 10 Airbus media day and we’ll both be at Farnborough, reporting on plans for the C Series and other news.

34 Comments on “Pontifications: C Series to Airbus, 10 years since program launch, lower fuel burn”

The CS-family wingtips reminds me a bit of that of the A330’s, by all accounts the CS has a good wing. Was just wondering if AB could use their experience with the 359’s winglets and apply that to the A200’s?

With a wingspan of 35.1m there is some room to play stay within the 36m. Its still early days in the CS/A200 family production, such an improvement could also pave the way for an “A250” somewhere down the line.

Both the 787and A350 are now quite a bit different to the early models. Its unlikely that the C series wouldn’t benefit from a similar level of tweaking. Bombardier never had the cash to be able too admit that.
C series winglets do look a bit “unfashionable “.

Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 engineering teams beg to differ.Its arguable that they just made a mess of things in the first place,but this is standard procedure. There are always amazing production efficiencies to gained ,as long as you have sufficient volume.
When it matters and you are fighting to the death in total global war,the ultimate combat aircraft for production and lethality are the B,Cand in the case of FW190 and P51,D models.

Think AB will know if there is room for significant (2-3%) improvement with wing tweaks If so the earlier the better for such a PIP, an CS500/A250 will also need increased MTOW. AB’s “recent” experience with winglets started with the 320 sharklets in 2006, 330NEO and now 359.

Appears there is not much thrust growth in the PW1900, at least in the short-medium term.

Delta has 125 A319 in the fleet, and for many US Routes a larger aircraft is no sensible option. Overall there are more than 450 A319 in the Americas, and about 80% flying in the US and Canada.
I think the C-Series will become successful, technology-wise it is state-of-the-art.

Delta has 57 A319s in their fleet, all recently refreshed, with an avg age of 16.1 years. DL’s A320 fleet was also refreshed, though the 62 frames are avg 22.6 years old.

And Delta has been clear that the CS100 (or A210 as it may become known) is largely a replacement for the MD88s that will need to retire (even as that is a downgauge in seats per flight).

All that said, I would hope that Delta considers the CS300/A230 for A319 replacement and supplementing routes of that density. The improved fuel burn, as oil prices rise, may help make that attractive.

Some airlines might find the CS300 to small and the A320/737-8 to big as replacement. The CS500 often comes up and looks like to be seating ~160 pax in typical 2-class layout and possibly only to be developed somewhere down the line.

Was however wondering if a minor stretch of the CS300 (4 rows) with 148-150 seats (“CS400”?) could attract significant interest/orders and be strong competition for the 737-7. This could also still stay in the 3xFA’s category for legacy airlines and be a very capable replacement for the A319’s.

It will be interesting to see what changes will be made to the Cseries. presumably there is an opportunity to PIP the programme using the depth of knowledge in the Airbus camp. I still have to pinch myself to accept that this deal has been completed.

Boeing – the 700s were chosen to reflect a move from piston engined to jets and the 7s were the next number on the list (after a missile program I think)

A300 – I think originally the first product was supposed to hold 300 passengers. However this was reined back when the RR engine was shelved and the GE alternative required a reduction in the size of the aircraft

Yes, it should have become the A250… There might still be some unused project numbers between A310 and A316 that could be used (not forgetting the abortive Asian Express exercise with Avic and Singapore Tech used AE316 & 317 nomenclature…).

Regarding: “Lets see what the NMA is, the 777 high density (16.8″), 787 (17.2″), so 16.5″ not ruled out as it seems airlines don’t give a hood what’s happening at the back.”

Have you read about Delta’s new 777-200ER and LR interiors? According to the AirlineGeeks article at the link below, Delta’s first 777 with the new interior just went into service, and Delta retained 3-3-3 abreast seating in economy. Believe it or not!

Regarding stretched A321 vs. NMA debates, take a look at the pictures of the Delta One Suites in the article, I don’t see how airlines for which super premium seating of this type is an important component of their business model, can come close to matching these type of accommodations, with aisle access for every suite, in a single aisle aircraft.

Below are a few excerpts from the article, followed by a link to the article.

“But for passengers traveling in economy, the best part of the refurbished 777s isn’t an actual change but Delta’s decision to retain a 9-abreast configuration in its economy class. The airline will offer 220 Main Cabin seats, two more than before.”

“Most airlines operating the 777 have converted their jets to 10-abreast seats, including Delta’s European SkyTeam partners Air France and KLM. U.S. carriers American Airlines and United Airlines also fly 777s configured with 10-abreast economy cabins, with each seat being 17 inches wide.

Delta’s decision to keep the 9-abreast economy cabin was a pleasant surprise for many and means that seats will be 18.5 inches wide, the widest economy seats of all of Delta’s long-haul fleet and all 777s operating in the U.S.

On the decision to maintain the configuration, a spokesperson for Delta told AirlineGeeks: “The comfort of our passengers is a top priority. By maintaining 9-abreast seating in the Main Cabin as we modify our 777s, we’re able to offer wider Main Cabin seats and more preferable seat options.”

Thanks AP, Delta stands out in the crowd, hope it pays of for them. With AA standardizing on 787’s and 777’s lets see what happens with load factors in the long term compared to DAL (also 330’s) and UAL that will have 359’s in their fleet.

Due to an aircraft change I ended up on one of the ME airlines 777’s with 10 abreast, not fun, fortunately only a 6 hour flight.